Her father Alfred was on the local council in Grantham. While at Oxford during the 1940s she became the first-ever female president of the university’s Conservative association.

After graduating with second-class honours in 1947, she was in 1949 selected as the Tory candidate in the Labour safe seat of Dartford after being rejected for a Conservative safe seat. She was the youngest female candidate in the country.

She lost that election, and another in 1951. In 1959, at the age of 34, she was elected as an MP, for the north London seat of Finchley following a number of years working as a research chemist and then qualifying as a barrister.

How did she become prime minister?

Margaret Thatcher was made education secretary by Ted Heath in 1970. She courted controversy by ending free school milk for primary school pupils. After the Conservatives lost the second 1974 general election she surprised many by defeating Heath is the 1975 leadership election. Four years later, she became the prime minister with a majority of 43.

What were her achievements during her first years as prime minister?

She created a “property-owning democracy” in 1980 by implementing the “right to buy” scheme for council tenants, giving millions of people in the UK the opportunity to purchase their homes at discounted rates. That year, she also gave her famous “the lady is not for turning” speech at the Tory party conference in which she said she would not pull a U-turn on economic liberalisation and counter-inflationary policies like controlling interest rates to restrict the money supply. In 1982 Argentina invaded the British Falkland Islands. Against the advice of many in her Government, Thatcher sent a naval task force to the area to take the islands back. During the war 255 British servicemen lost their lives. The victory boosted Thatcher’s popularity, helping her to win the following general election.

What events marked her second term?

She was re-elected by a landslide in 1983, but the following year saw the miners’ strike, which became one of the longest industrial disputes in British history. The miners would eventually be defeated after a year of industrial action marked by serious violence. In October of 1984 she was nearly killed when an IRA bomb went off at the Grand Hotel in Brighton during the Conservative Party conference. In 1985, she signed the Anglo-Irish agreement at Hillsborough Castle, County Down – a decision she later regretted.

What about her third term?

In June 1987, she was re-elected for a third term with a slightly reduced majority, becoming the longest continuously serving prime minister since Lord Liverpool at the beginning of the 19th century. Later that year she gave a speech to Woman’s Own magazine in which she said there was “no such thing as society”. In 1989 the poll tax was introduced in Scotland, leading to major rioting. In 1990, there was a further poll tax riot in Trafalgar Square in London. Her support for reforming Soviet president Mikhael Gorbachev arguably hastened the end of the Cold War and the spread of democracy to former Eastern Bloc states.

Why did she leave Downing Street?

Margaret Thatcher left office three years after her 1997 election victory after being ejected by her own MPs. Her increasingly sceptical stance on Europe alienated some in the party and led to the resignation of Geoffrey Howe, the foreign secretary. He gave a devastating resignation speech in the Commons which crystalised growing discontent in the Tory Party and gave Michael Heseltine a reason to mount a leadership challenge. Thatcher won the first ballot against Heseltine but the challenger attracted enough support to force a second ballot. Thatcher initially said that she intended to “fight on and fight to win” the second ballot but senior figures in her Cabinet convinced her that she should resign. After making one final Commons speech, she left Downing Street in tears.

What is her legacy?

Primarily, she will be remembered for curbing union power, winning the war in the Falklands, her bold free market reforms as well as her help to end the Cold War alongside Ronald Reagan. During her 11 years in office the centre ground of British politics shifted to the right and she established a political philosophy that still dominates today. She was also the first woman to lead a major Western democracy.